One of my friends on FaceBook from the Narraganset Indian tribe posted a link having to do with regarding the Eagle Feather Laws. Now many of you may not know, but it is illegal for anyone who is not a member of a federally recognized tribe to possess an eagle feather. The eagle is a protected animal and there is a repository by the government that takes in eagle carcasses that were found and disseminates the feathers to members of federally recognized tribes for use in their ceremonies.
The crux of the appeal in a lawsuit is because a white man who chose to live amongst the Paiute and learned the ceremonies and for all intents and purposes was "like" a tribal member. However, after he was found to have eagle feathers in his possession that had been gifted to him, he was arrested and charged. The argument is that because he practiced the same spiritual practices  as the Paiute, or rather the Paiute of the Native American Church, he should have his spiritual practices protected as well. Well, I will leave that for the lawyers to argue. Personally, a turkey feather works just as well for me, so I am not compelled to obtain an eagle feather. It is more about what is in your heart and your intent.
What got me torqued about the article wasn't the subject of the article, but rather the comments. It didn't take long for the first person to come out slinging the Wannabee, New-Ager labels around. Yes, there are many whites who get involved in or rather pretend to be involved in Native American spirituality and prey on others who are trying to find another way. However, I will submit that there are also many Native Americans who also seek to profit off of Native American spiritual practices. However, this person, in the article walked the walk and talked the talk. He took time to learn and was an active member despite never being able to be a recognized member because of his blood. I won't get into the whole blood quantum deal. History is replete with those of European blood that joined with various tribes. Will Thomas actually became chief of the Tsalagi (Cherokee). Of course, with blood quantum, Will could never even be a member of a tribe these days.
Let me break for one moment because I know that many non-Native readers have no idea what I am talking about. In order to get federal recognition, Native American tribes have to set a blood quantum. That is the percentage of your blood that is of that particular tribe. So say, one grandparent was Native American, you would have a blood quantum of 25. As long as the tribe's blood quantum level is below 25, you can be a member of the tribe. Now just be careful you don't marry out of the tribe, because eventually you will find that your children or grandchildren no longer are members. Now, I ask you, what other group in the United States has to set a blood quantum? Worse, you have to be able to prove it? Of course, if you don't get that recognition, you miss out on some of the government programs and the ability to start a casino to raise money for the tribe. So yeah, it is a complicated matter, but let me get back to my point.
I wrote a blog once that raised the question, what if we get our spirituality from the land we walk? What if that is the draw for many people to Native American spirituality? Yet, if you learn about this way of life and find a truth in it, where can you go? What can you do? Well, for one, you had better have a very thick skin because you are going to get it from both sides. You become a loner walking between two worlds. You are called a wannabee, New-Ager, or worse, plastic shaman, by Native Americans, and well, at minimum thought to be strange by your own race. Most people don't understand Native American spirituality. I might recommend a good book by Vine Deloria called God is Red. It might help to clear things up. Now for many non-Native who find a truth in this path that some call the White Path, others, the Good Red Road, very few will be accepted by their local tribe. I wish to add that there is good reason for the distrust, but unfortunately, it ensnares many who are "called" to this path. So where do they go, well they end up reading books which may or may not have been written by Native Americans. They may end up seeing someone at their local spiritual shop, I hate the term New-Age as a lot of the practices followed by those on that spiritual path are following ancient traditions. And yet others may end up with someone named Flying Eagle who probably has less Native American blood than the Pope. So they learn as best they can and practice as best they can. Their spiritual practice may become a hodgepodge of tribal customs and ceremonies. The best I can offer them is to follow their heart and listen.
One last thing I would like to say on this. What would be so bad about people learning to walk softly on the earth. What would be so bad to learn about giving thanks to the herbs that heal, the animals that give of themselves to feed us. What would be so bad to give thanks to the Creator, the Great Spirit, the Great Mystery, or whichever name you choose to relate to the spiritual center of all things. What would be so wrong to walk in a manner of respect for all of life. Now, I am not romanticizing Native Americans. I can see with my own eyes many that have lost their way. What could it hurt for more people to walk a more spiritual path? I think it was a Lakota, Ed McGaa, who wrote about the Rainbow Tribe. A tribe of people from many races coming together to perform ceremony, to share, to relate. Of course, he has been maligned by his own people for doing so. So what is the answer for those who are drawn to this path? I guess it is just to continue to follow your own path and walk between two worlds. It takes courage and strength, and a very thick skin.
My heart to your heart, one heart, one spirit.

Okay, so daughter is still sleeping, son is off playing a game in his room, quite time for a few as my vacation winds down. So I decided it was time to write another. I go to the cupboard, mind you, not where I stashed the cookies for future columns, but ones I saw that someone else stashed in another cupboard. Part of me was saying, no, these aren't the ones meant to be written about. Not being a superstitious person, knock on wood, I brushed it off.
Well, I went over to the trash so I could tear the cellophane to deposit it directly in the trash. Plop, there went the cookie too. Fortunately, mostly paper that it landed on, so I fished it back out. Still part of me said, leave it there and get another. I didn't want to be wasteful, though, in the end, the cookie does go in the trash. Hey, I wasn't going to eat it after it went in. I took the cookie in my traditional way, and snapped it open. I pull out the slip of paper and it says:

"There are no coincidences"

Dah, dah dummmmm. Boy, how do you take that after what just happened. So why were those cookies apart from the others? Why were they in the cabinet with the dishes where I had to retrieve dishes for the breakfast meal? What diabolical plot was hatching here? Oh, it didn't help that my son left a movie on the kitchen table too, Final Destination 2 or 3 not sure. Interesting, but if I remember the one that my daughter watched, there were no coincidences in that movie either.

But seriously, it is said that everything has a purpose. Things happen in our lives to guide us, give us lessons, or in some cases warn us of danger. We may say that these are coincidences and brush them off, but those who walk a spiritual path, speak of these as signs. Throughout our lives we are given these signs to help us along our path. Many times we simply choose to ignore them or just brush them off as coincidences. In many indigenous cultures, the people were raised to watch for signs. In many cases, it was for the survival of the people. They could look at the sky or smell the air or watch the wildlife and know that some ill was coming.

You hear the saying, all things happen for a reason. Yet, we rarely ever stop to ask why, or what lesson is this bringing, or what message should I take from this? Through the years we have been taught to not believe in the spirit world. Or if we do, to see it as ghosts, goblins and other strange things. But what if there is another world? A parallel world that is beautiful and wondrous and inhabited by spiritual beings that wish to help us? What if they are the ones that are sending these signs in hopes that we are open and can understand the meaning?

Shamans and others who are taught to interact with the spirit world perform a function within their societies. They are well respected in their communities, not so much in the western world, but in other places that still practice traditional ways. They are known for their ability to "journey", to travel to the spirit world to find answers that may help their community. They journey to bring healing. They learn to interact with the spirit world for the betterment of others. While shaman is an Eastern European term, anthropologists have used it as a blanket label for all indigenous healers and holy people. This is offensive to some, who will politely, or sometimes not so politely remind you that they are not shaman, they are Laika, Curandero/as, or simply healers. Yet, all of these healers share a common purpose of helping their community.

Here in the US, we are currently looking to "fix" our health care system. For many, it just doesn't work. I won't get into a debate on that here and now as it could be a whole missive on its own. The thing I want to point out is a stark difference between western medicine and indigenous. Indigenous medicine is holistic. By that, I mean that they treat the whole person. A healer more than likely is quite familiar with the person being treated. They probably have treated the whole family, and in some cases for generations. They will know things that may affect a persons spirit. They know that healing has to take place there also. Modern medicine, looks at symptoms and throws pills at you. Indigenous medicine looks at root causes. In many cases it will be because of an imbalance in the persons life. They will work to not only cure the symptom, but work to heal the spirit and bring the person back in balance so as to prevent a recurrence. Often the "medicine" used is simple herbs, or a mixture of herbs. Many years of training goes into that herbal medicine.

Much of the medicine that we know today started as simple herbal medicine. Taking the healing powers of sage, is not profitable as sage is everywhere. So drug companies isolate that part of the plant that they believe brings the healing powers. They can then manufacture and most importantly patent the medicine to increase profit. Yet, there are many side affects to these medicines. Side effects that are not present when the herb itself is used because there are other properties in the herb or combination of herbs, roots, and flowers, that counter the negative part of the "medicine". Another difference in medicine is that drug companies make medicine for profit. Indigenous healers look at a plant as family. They don't just rip up a bunch of plants and use them. The herbs are approached in a spiritual way. Prayers are said over the plant and usually an offering is made of a pinch of tobacco or corn meal or such. They give thanks to the plant for giving of its life to bring healing. They do not collect all the plants in an area, but rather take only what is needed leaving the rest. As they prepare the medicine, more prayers are said. They honor the spirit of the plant. With modern medicine we are no longer connected to the plants spirit. It is a pill, pop it, and you will feel better we are told. Yet, in the end, we need more and more as we are never truly healed.

Sometimes I wonder if what we really need for a new health system is to throw out western medicine and bring back the healers and holy men. People from within the community who are prayerful and spiritual and know you. In this way they can heal the whole person and get at the root cause of what is making us sick. When you start reading stories of indigenous healers and some of the "miracles" they have performed, you begin to wonder. Maybe there is hope as I have heard that some hospitals are beginning to introduce alternative medicines like Reiki as part of the healing.

If you are interested in Native American healers, I highly recommend two books Fools Crow, Wisdom and Power, and Black Elk Speaks.

Just remember, there are no coincidences, only signs. We must open our hearts and learn to listen from there.

My heart to your heart, one heart, one spirit.

Okay, went to Orchard of Hawaii Friday night to get take out. Put aside the fortune cookies so that I will have inspiration without having to go back for a while. So let's see what we have. Take off the cellophane wrapping. Grasp cookie in left hand, middle finer in the V, index on the right half, ring on the left, and split. Two perfect halves from which to extrude the nugget of wisdom. You have to keep with rituals no matter what you do. Whether it is a simple thing like opening a fortune cookie, or saying prayers, smudging, or entering the woods. Now let's see what we have:

"A kiss makes the heart young again and wipe out the years."

Interesting. When you think about it, how old does one feel when alone compared to when one is loved or in love? Personally, I can remember trudging through the woods feeling like each step was in mud. Oh, wait, it was, but that is besides the point. When we are alone, we can feel heavy, old, and in extreme times, wishing for the end.

Yet, how much different we feel when we feel loved or are in love? It is those times you can run through the woods, vaulting stone walls like a young buck. There is nothing like that feeling. There is a lightness, an energy that if we could just bottle, would be amazing. The whole world is alive an beautiful. Everything we see takes on such beauty. Roses smell sweeter. Why we might even say hello to a passing skunk rather than running and hiding.

Most of our time, though, is spent in that in between. At times we feel old, tired, and wishing this journey were at en end, and others we feel happy and light, and never wanting it to end. It is like a roller coaster. At the low end, we feel alone and at times, unloved.

In the last writing, I spoke of being the glow worm. This is one of those times when you can reach out to another and yourself glow. Think about it for a moment, if a kiss makes the heart feel young again, then couldn't simply showing someone you care and reaching out to them, at least help raise them up? Now, I am not saying go up and kiss a stranger, that could have some implications. What I am saying is that simply acknowledging someone you see down in the dumps, reaching out to them, maybe just listening, helps them to feel that someone cares. I have written over the years about reconnecting. We have become so distant from each other that it becomes difficult at times to reconnect. If we open our hearts and take the time to see the opportunities and maybe take that minute out of our lives to reach out to someone else, maybe they won't feel so old.

The thing is, that sometimes, that reconnecting, that reaching out, has a marvelous impact on ourselves. We glow. There is nothing like helping someone else get over a hurdle. Sometimes all it takes is taking the ten minutes or so, to listen. A good counselor will not tell you what you should do. They will simply listen and guide you to keep focused so that you, who all ready know the answers, can find your way through the morass to the solution.

So, here is my challenge to you. Help make someone feel younger. Reach out, listen, or simply be there. Help them to unload their burdens and feel young and light again. Oh, and if you feel so inclined to pass out kisses, well I am approaching my 51st year, so I could use all that youth medicine I can get. LOL. Of course, I am only kidding.

My heart, to your heart, one heart, one spirit.

Returned to Orchard of Hawaii for lunch and some fortune cookies. Not quite Quan's, but it was more about inspiration, not great taste. It wasn't too bad. Fried Rice was a bit dry, but the only other place I know is another fifteen minutes down the road. So what was the morsel of inspiration that I received for this effort?

"If we are all worms, try to be a glow worm"

Okay, well many people would have trouble with the idea of being equated to worms, but in the spirit of Mitakuye Oyasin, we are all related, I can accept this. In thinking about this, these days many of us feel like worms. In these days of outsourcing and cutbacks, many of us feel like worms in our jobs. How many of us feel as if the Sword of Damocles was hanging over our heads. We are under constant pressure to work longer hours with no raises, and always with the feeling that if we protest, we will find ourselves on the outs. We put up with long, thankless hours, just to ensure that our families are provided for. In other words, we feel like worms.

I spoke of worms in an earlier blog. I spoke of reconnecting and told of the importance of the worm. While many may deride this brother of the earth, he does perform an important function. Worms help break down decaying material. The worm holes help to aerate the soil and provide pathways for the water to get to the roots. So if someone says you are as low as a worm, you can now tell them thanks, because you are important.

So knowing just how important you are, it doesn't matter what these others think of you, what matters, and take this to heart, what matters most, is what you think of yourself. You are important! All life is important. So knowing this, don't let them get to you, but glow. Glow little glow worm, glow. Let that inner spirit that is the essence of who you are exude the brightest light you can. No matter what slop they throw at you, do your best. The only way you can do this is by remembering that the only critic that is important is you. If you give in to the will of others and allow them to dictate how you feel then you will allow the darkness to envelope you. If you reach into yourself and believe in yourself and who you are then all the external things become mere distractions and your light begins to shine despite the darkness they throw at you. You are the glow worm! Glow, baby, glow!

My heart to your heart, one heart, one spirit.

A friend on Facebook has been trying to get the word out about Walmart wanting to build a Sam's Club on a graveyard. Now I want you to think about this for a moment. Picture your grandparents or their parents graves. Now picture a bulldozer just coming in and plowing them under and erecting a Sam's Club. How would you feel? Would you even allow it? Apparently in Oxford, Alabama they think it is okay. The almighty dollars pull has blinded the leaders so that Walmart, with little regard for the souls buried there, can just plow them under and build a Sam's Club. Are you with me so far? Are you questioning the sanity yet?
Okay, a little more info.
The friend I speak of is a Native American journalist named Neyom Friday. She has been trying to bring attention to this with little result. You see, the graveyard in question is an ancient Native American burial mound. So does that make it right to you? Were you outraged a moment ago, but now maybe are saying, oh, it is only an old Indian burial mound, that's okay. Well, it's not! Respect for the ancestors should know no color, race, creed, or sex. All burial grounds should be treated with the same respect and dignity. How much longer before it isn't just an Indian burial ground, but your own ancestors being plowed under?
Google Sam's Club, Oxford, Alabama. If you are outraged, send emails to Send all emails to cityhall@oxfordalabama.org Let them know that all ancestors deserve respect.

Okay, so I read today that IBM is laying off 4,000 people and off-shoring the jobs to India. This is nothing new and has been going on for quite a while now. Companies under pressure from stockholders to turn a profit and a big return on investments, have been moving jobs out of the country for years. I ask anyone to go to a store today and try to find an article of clothing Made in America. I had commented about an article that was written, I believe in Mother Jones about a reporter who tried to buy just American for a week and had great difficulty. Even in my own neck of the woods where the twin cities of New Bedford and Fall River were home to the textile industry saw all of that go away. Once humming factories have long since been converted to office space, apartments, outlet stores, or gone up in infernos fueled by floors soaked for decades by oil from sewing machines. In my lifetime, I saw the great Fall River Knitting Mills go the way of the dinosaur. They used to make great sweaters, but started to lose business from off-shore where they don't have child labor laws or worker's rights.
So rather than just getting product from overseas, they are now exporting whole jobs. It is more blatant, but guess what. There is nothing you can do about it. That's right nothing. What are you going to do to a company like IBM? Stop buying ThinkPads? Um, no, they sold that out to Lenovo. So what can we do? Nothing.
I hate to be a downer, businesses are in the business of creating profit and big returns for their investors. They outsourced a lot of manufacturing. What did they have left? Jobs. They have to turn a profit, that is what our culture demands. So they start cutting jobs to keep the returns via dividends coming. After all, when the economy takes a downturn, investors shouldn't take the hit. Cut executive salaries, are you nuts? Like Boston radio host Jay Severend said, and mind you, I don't agree with him or his ways, but happened to hear him talking about this, if you reduce executive salaries then the only people you will get to run the companies are some professors from Harvard. I think the point being made is that these guys know how to run a business but don't make the million dollar salaries. Well, maybe that is what we need. Because quite frankly these guys that are running the companies for million dollar salaries and bonuses to match, are driving companies in the ground. The unfortunate part is they are driving our economy into the ground also.
So, what I have to ask all these economic gurus that were saying how great things were as the DOW broke 13000, how long did you think this paradigm would work? At some point we had to reach that tipping point where we got rid of so many jobs that it started to affect retail sales. And of course, because companies are stuck in that old paradigm, just react in the same way they have been conditioned, they lay off workers. So even more people are put on the bread lines and guess what, retail sales go down, oh of course, execpt Walmart. So with sales down, profits down, what do companies do, the only thing left they can, lay off more workers.
Of course, at some point we had to hit the tipping point.
So this news about IBM putting 4,000 more workers on the skids and sending the jobs to India is just a continuation of the same old paradigm. Why can't we do anything? Well, besides these corporate execs not listening, IBM with the sale of its PC division to Lenovo got out of the consumer market. They sell services to corporations. Since sending jobs overseas allows them to sell those services for a lower price, corporations, their customers, are happy. Are you beginning to see how this paradigm is like a snake eating its own tail? At some point, you run out of tail.
So to hear people in shock about this economy, in shock about how retail sales are down, housing sales are down, car sales, in shock that we have to have yet another round of layoffs.
So what we need is a new paradigm. We need a way to get all these people back working. Unfortunately, until we do, we will just continue this spiral.
In the interim, maybe we should relearn the old ways. Start by planting mini-gardens. Be sure to use heirloom seeds so that you can keep your own seeds and be able to replant the next year. Learn how to can and preserve foods. Learn how to make your own bread. Our grandparents and great-grandparents survived the depression by coming together and helping each other. So until corporations get the bigger picture and stop being more concerned about investor returns and executive bonuses, than in what they are doing the economy, it is up to us to help each other.

"What is the truth?"
"What path is the right path?"

These were questions I yelled out during prayers one day. When I finally quieted my tirade and heaved a sigh and watched the scenery fly by, the answer came back to me, "If I gave you the truth, you would not have the journey."

In that one sentence, it summed up what has been a fascinating journey. One in which each time I thought I found an answer, I came away with ten more questions. I laughingly refer to it as falling down the rabbit hole with Alice.

As many of you who have followed my journey know, I was raised Catholic. I followed a path given to me by others and even came close to becoming a priest. People noted my spiritual nature and because most everyone was Catholic, a priest seemed a good fit. Oh, I was a Youth Minister for a couple of years, but the closest I came to the full commitment was sitting in the Diocesan offices having an interview. The Monsignor was please with my answers until he came to the one, "How do you feel towards women?" Well, now, being Irish, the wit took over before I could catch it, and that old Tommy Tune song from Finian's Rainbow came to mind and out I blurted, "If I can't be with the one I love, I'll love the one I'm with." Bzzzzzt, wrong answer. Thank you for playing, try again another time. Next!

Maybe it was a good thing as I ended up not being locked into a singular dogma that constrained thought to only what came out of the Holy See. Of course, the more I learned about the Catholic Church and its dark underbelly, the more I was happy not to have walked down that path, though I think I would have made one heck of a priest.

Well, my life after that was spent in spiritual fits and starts. The place where I felt most comfortable and at home was in the woods. So it was there that I would talk to God. My personal life had many ups and downs too. Two failed marriages later, I found myself having a breakdown and serious identity issues. I spent five years in counseling only to find that it was okay to believe as I did. My spiritual path was my own and now that I owned it, I had to find out what IT was. I knew from experience that being Catholic was not a fit. So I set out to find out just what I believed and what I could learn. I left my heart open to other paths and investigated at will. Eventually settling down to learn about indigenous healing or as anthrosociologists like to call, shamanism. (Please understand that I know that Native Americans are not shaman, neither are Curanderos or Laikas, it is an eastern European that unfortunately, anthrosociologists like to use to classify all indigneous healers in one lump.) .I investigated many aspects of healing from reading various books about Native American tribes. I read some of the American Shaman writers like Sandra Ingerman, Alberto Villoldo, and many, many others. I read about the sacred drum medicine of the Manianka of Mali. I also took time to read spiriitual writings from Black Elk, Fools Crow, and the Dali Lama. I also learned from Native American friends who were healers.

Let me back track one moment. You may ask why I chose this path. Ever since I was in high school, I have always acted as a "counselor" to others. My school counselor noted this and wanted me to switch my career path from Food Service to psychology. Well, I was going to a regional school and if I switched from Food Service to psychology, I would have had to return to my own school system. So I stayed in Food Service and just continued to do what ever I could to listen and try to help others. This has continued all through my life, and even now I wish I had the time and resources to return to school to take up psychology as my next career. It wasn't just my words and listening that helped to heal. When I was a Youth Minister, one thing people noted was that when I gave the kids back massages after having to sit for long periods, they would say that my hands would get hot and they could feel it go through them. They would soon fall asleep and when they awoke they said it felt like they had slept all night and were The thing is, that when I ran away from Youth Ministry, in part because I feared I was being called to be a priest again, I kind of renounced all my gifts. So part of my journey has been to try to reclaim these gifts so that I may help others. But beyond words and healing hands, I wish to learn about herbal medicine and healing the spirit.

On this path, I have read from many different sources. One of the first books that helped me to open my heart to many paths was a book called Seven Masters One Path by John Selby. John brings together teaching from seven great masters, Krishnamurti, Lao-tzu, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Gurdjieff, and Patanjali in one book to help people to find ways to meditate. I thought at the time, what a concept. Here was a book that actually took these seven teachers from different philosophies and brought them together as equals. No one was saying, you have to believe this, or that, just a collection of great wisdom. So I opened my learning to include Buddhist wisdom, Native American teachings, and even some Hindu teachings. One particular one, I often quote:

“There are hundreds of paths up the mountain,
all leading in the same direction,
so it doesn’t matter which path you take.
The only one wasting time is the one
who runs around and around the mountain,
telling everyone else that their path is wrong.”

Hindu Teaching

I found such profound wisdom in this that I have reposted it on my many blog sites. Another that I found profound came from the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama:

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

How many of us follow a path simply because those who have come before us have done so? We may feel a calling to walk this way or that, but because of tradition, dogma, or just simple peer pressure we follow the path others dictate for us. I offer another quote:

"Leaders don’t force people to follow –they invite them on a journey." – Charles S. Lauer

So I invite you on a journey. A journey of discovery of your own path, your own destiny. I pray that you will step back and look at your beliefs, your dogmas, and reread the quote above from the Buddha. Ask if this truth that you have been following is your truth.

Of course, this isn't always as easy as saying it. One thing on my journey that I have had to attempt to overcome is the societal and religious constraints put on us. When it comes to things spiritual we are told what to believe and what not. If we are to open our hearts and explore our own spiritual path, we have to quell the feelings of disbelief and open ourselves up to the great possibility that we may experience things beyond wonder. The problem I have had is that from a very young age, I was hit with "There is no such things as ghosts", "I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I believe in one Holy Roman and Apostolic church...". How can one overcome a lifetime of being told that there is just one way and supernatural things don't exist? It has been a lot to overcome, but I have seen and heard things that have slowly whittled away at those old beliefs. But they still are there in the shadows ready to jump out and say, this isn't real, I was thinking about this the other day as I was reading a collection of essays in the book, Toward 2012: Perspectives on the Next Age by Daniel Pinchbeck and Ken Jordan

Let me preface before I continue that I have suffered back problems for a while now. I have some arthritis in my back as well as scoliosis and slight whiplash from an accident about six years ago. One of the spots that I have a lot of trouble with is right between the shoulder blades. it feels like someone takes an ice pick and plunges it right into my spine. I see a chiro who fixes me up, but given the amount I drive and moving disk arrays and servers, it doesn't take long to get out of whack again. Of course, the insurance company in their infinite wisdom limits me to twelve visits a year, so the rest of the time, I have to live with the pain. That being said.....

I was reading one of the essays and it introduced a new phenomenon that I had not quite heard of yet, WingMakers. In the essay, the author talks about their experience in "getting their wings". There are some that believe that the approach of 2012 signals the entering into the fifth world and an evolution of man into Homo Luminous. As part of this, some surmise that we will "sprout wings" and take on a more angelic appearance. Of course, as I stated before I have a lot of old dogma to overcome and first impression was to scoff. Right at that moment, as that thought was entering my mind, that stabbing right between the shoulder blades happens. Was it Carl Jung that said there is no such thing as synchronicity? Let me tell you, when you are reading such a thing and then get hit with excruciating pain right in the place where the person is saying that their wings were budding, you really begin to wonder. One of the thoughts that flashed in my head was a memory of my Air Force days. I had been upstairs in Bubba Brown's room with some of the guys playing cards. Of course, being servicemen, with poker, there is drinking. At one point, one of the guys lunged across the table and grabbed Bubba around the throat. He said the devil was inside of Bubba and he had to kill him. Three guys tried to pull him off but couldn't make him budge. I placed a hand on his shoulder and his whole continence changed and he relaxed and released. As soon as I let go, he was back at Bubba. I was not restraining him. I merely touched him. I touched his shoulder again and he released Bubba. I told the guys to get Bubba in the other room and I told his attacker that I was going to take him back to his dorm. He looked at me and smiled. He told me, "I see an angel in you". I kept my hand on his shoulder all the way back to the dorm and when I got him in his room, he just flopped on his bed and passed out. I tell you, it made me start to question.
Of course, wouldn't the next essay in that book be from a former Evangelical who spoke about how we need to relook at Christianity. I think the title was that we had to get Christ out of Christianity. I think it is more like we have to get him back in as he had some great teachings.

I think in the end encountering things like this that make you question and help us to throw off the bonds. As we move from NO WAY, to do you think it is possible? We begin to open our minds and hearts to greater possibilities. Some say that all this hoopla about 2012 and ascension or new worlds, is just a bunch of hoo hah, but what if? What if we stand on the brink of a great jump in the evolution in man and the only thing holding us back is that voice from the past saying, "There's no such thing as ghosts"? What if we free our minds as many indigenous cultures do and open our hearts to the spirits that walk the earth, that may just help and guide us. What if?

Maybe it is just getting old, or a touch of nostalgia, or just becoming senile. Who knows, but I found myself trying to look up old friends on the Internet. Let me tell you, that is no easy task. This is especially so, when so many years have past. I don't know what has gotten me in this mood, but I just feel a need to reach out and connect with people I loved so long ago. Like those from my days at Little Rock AFB. When you are in the service you are sometimes more than just friends, but you become family. Now finding the guys is hard enough, but how do you find the women when many may have taken on another name?
I tell you there are many people who I have walked along with through my life. They remain in my memory and always will. Some, I remember their face, in one particular case, their shape, but forgotten their name. Some may have passed on like my good friend Reverend Purdie. I was spiraling down, drinking heavily, when that man helped me to name my demons and turn my life around. My Air Force career would have been ruined and was very close to being so, had he not sat me down. There was Carl, one of the other cooks, but I can't remember his last name, and of course, Rose Marie Harris. All good people. My partner in crime, Mark Watts. We had such a great time together. I had one of the best teams with Mark, Mary Hernandez (engaged at the time to Oscar Ortiz), Yung Cho Healey, Candy Hart, Dottie Chavers, Mama san Chung, Aura Tyte ( I think that was how you spelled her name.) Candy was Dottie's Daughter. Dottie and her husband Jim and I were friends after work also. Oh, and Blondie. I will always remember her as Blondie, though for the life of me can't remember her real name. Others that I hung around with or teamed with every now and then, Dave Kristofferson, Clay Wickham. Clay, his wife Sue, and Karen Shadowens used to hang together. I still remember Noreen Malenga who was Karen's roommate and whom I dated for a bit. My buddy Carl Bullock, who at first we were at each others throat and old Dusty Rhodes had to separate us, but in the end, we were the mobility team that went every where together. There was Ron Krank, and Manny Roman. Roger Samples did the crash kitchen. Bubba Brown and the Bubbettes. Bubba and Clay were from up my way as well as Ron. I remember the uptimes and the down times when we lost Washington in a plane crash. He had come through the line that night and Mark and I fed him, joked as we usually did. I got the call later that night that the plane went down and to alert mortuary services that they had bodies coming in. It still makes me cry to remember that night.
I remember Jim Chavers having to go in for a procedure, er um, down below. Dottie rolled when I stopped at Bayou Catfish Kitchen and brought Jim's favorite. Beans with Jalepenos. I can still hear him when I shut his El Camino's doors, "Take it easy Croft, this ain't a Ford". I had a Torino at the time. I had the hots for Candy, but then so did every other guy on the base. I used to go to her apartment and I think her roommate had the hots for me. She must have, she came out one time in a towel and just let it drop. I just wish I could remember her name. As it turned out, we had mutual relations around the third cousin level.
I tell you if it wasn't for Reverend Purdie, I would have missed out on some great times and some great people. I just wish I could reconnect with some. I found Cruize on Classmates a few years back. I'll never forget when a bunch of us jumped in Danny Stephens truck and drove up to Heber Springs to jump off the cliffs. We put a vodka bottle in the end of a watermelon and wrapped it in a towel. As we drop up the road with it cradled, it looked like we were giving vodka to a baby. The looks we got, but boy was that watermelon good. Of course, drinking and jumping off cliffs isn't exactly smart and I got a broken toe out of the deal, but hey, young, stupid, yep, me.
Another time, Kristofferson and I took a bunch of people out horseback riding. Kris and I used to go to this place a lot and were familiar with the horses. I always took Red, he was on Whitey. One of the guys that came said he was experienced so they gave him Blue. Well, Kris and I trotted on up ahead of the others because the slow pace was killing us. When I came back to check on the others, they were pointing into the woods and told me that Blue took off that way. I told them to wait for Kris and took off into the woods. I got Blue and darn, I can't remember his name, cornered in some brush. I told him to get off Blue and get on Red. He did and then started arguing with me about which way to go to get back to the others. He started off away from everyone, but heh, Red was trained, I whistled for him and he turned around with Ozzie cursing me. I got him back to the others and he had to listen to the ribbing. I guess not everyone from Oklahoma knows how to ride.
Of course there we were caught off guard. We pulled a twelve overnight one time and then took off to Heber Springs for the day. Got back in time to go back to work and pull another twelve. Dog tired by morning and ready to hit our racks when I got the call. Call your men in, this is an alert. Dang, so much for sleep. Wait until the next crew came in to relieve, off to the barracks, change into fatiques, grab duffle and head to the flight line, off to Missouri, set up camp, and then finally get to crash. I was wiped by the time we got back to base, but there was Fred Jenkins telling me I had to work, but sending Mark home. Well, he was married and his wife missed him. Dang, I hated being single at times.
I guess those days in the service will always stay with me. I was fortunate to be between wars. The closest I came was when the hostages were taken in Iran. We were mounted up and ready to go. With the team I had, I think we could have pulled it off. Had I not been stuck in Arkansas for my full hitch, I might have reupped. If they had given me England, I would have been there. Instead, I let my Irish get up and quit the service. Heck, I could have been retired by now.
So if any of you happen along Bossier City and run into Dottie and Jim, tell them I said hey! Last I knew, Mark was still in North Little Rock, though his wife Betty was from Memphis area. Manny is probably back in New York. Ron, maybe in Mass. Danny Stephens in Texas, and Jack Stephens in Illinois, I think. Mary may be back in San Antonio.
I guess I have rambled on for long enough. Let me leave you with something Jack Stephens used to say, "Can't ya see, can't ya tell, don't ya know?" Man that guy could sing I've Been Everywhere better than anyone I know.
Good friends, good memories.
Thanks for listening.

If you light a lamp for for somebody, it will brighten your path. - Buddhist saying

Whenever we refer to things that are not good, we say they are dark things. Are they truly dark? Or is it that they just don't have enough light shining on them. Over the past few writings, I have sought to bring a light on those things that I perceive are keeping us from finding that world of light, harmony, peace, and abundance for all. Even if it was just a spark of light, it was at least something. As the saying states above, I also took the time as I was writing to look at how I related to others and the world around me. In attempting to shine a light for others to see some of the things I see as things that separate us, I also could look at things in a new light. The question that plays in my mind is have I shown even  a spark?

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into a flame by another human being. Each of us owes our deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light. - Albert Schweitzer

Given the counts or comments that i have seen, so very few people have gone to, let alone read, what I have written. I have truly believed that I was guided to write what I did. If so, to who was it intended? Yet, as I have come to learn, sometimes it is just that one little spark that gets passed on and soon the spark draws into a flame that grows into a fire. The question is, how can I fan those flames? We have grown so disconnected not only from the world around us, but from each other. In our striving to succeed, be noticed, get ahead, we have put more and more barriers between us. So what can we do? After all, what good is pointing the things that separate us without also offering possible paths of reconnection.

Well for one, start honoring each others paths. Stop being the one running round and round the mountain telling everyone else they are on the wrong path. Take the time to learn and understand others paths. In removing ignorance, we can keep ourselves from being drawn into the hate and prejudice that separate us. We can start by not getting drawn into the hate being put against Muslims around the world. The whole religion is being condemned because of terrorists who happen to be Muslim. If we were to do that, Christians would have a lot to answer to, ask any former prisoner of the Indian Schools. We need to stop treating whole religions, countries or races for the acts of people who are a subset of those groups. Maybe if we all got a copy of Idiot's Guide to Islam, or Hinduism, or any of the other faiths that we interact, don't understand, and need to understand in order to accept and relate. 

Another thing we can do is to start looking at how we relate to each other. Whenever we have a negative feeling towards another, take a moment to ask ourselves why? What is it about this other person that makes us feel off? In’ lakesh, I am another you. Think of this when relating to another. Think of them as another copy of you on a different path, with different clothes, maybe a different skin color, hair, eyes. If it really was another you, what would you say to them? What would you ask them? What could you learn from them?

Rather than accepting what our leaders tell us about another country, go to the library, buy a book, learn for yourself. Buddha Gautama Siddhartha said, "“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” Why then do we simply accept what is spoon fed us by the media and our own government. Who knows, maybe you might just find some interesting things about these other countries that you never knew.

Get out to the woods! I can not stress this enough. I do not get out to the woods enough and I practically lived there as a boy. The only way we are going to learn to respect nature is to get out in it. If we become familiar with that tree or stream or stone, would we so readily plow it over? Wonder out in the woods and find a stump or rock to sit on for a bit and just sit out in the quiet of the woods and take it all in. Soon, you will find that it isn't so quiet. The woods are alive with sound. Whether it is the jay screaming "tief, tief", or the woodpecker rat-a-tat-tatting on the tree above you, or the squirrel scampering on the branches, the rabbit hopping along, or the croaking of the frog, the chirp of the cricket, the wind whispering in the pine, the woods are a cacophony of sound. Sit there for a bit and look around at all the trees and wildlife. Okay, now picture it as a parking lot and shopping center, or a new housing development where the trees have all been leveled and houses that no one can afford have been erected.  Can you let these new relations be wiped out for another Walmart?

I wish I knew what to suggest on the job front. Too many companies are laying off more and more people to balance their books and keep the money going to shareholders, but then sit scratching their heads because sales are down. Um, duh, you aren't the only company laying off and with everyone worrying about surviving, there is no discretionary cash to spend on a new TV or Blue Ray player. Got to love Hyundai's new commercials saying that if you lose your job, they will buy your car back. Okay, but a car basically drops $1,000 in value going out of the lot, are they going to pay you what you owe? Or are they going to give you blue book? I understand the mentality. It is all about trying to sell cars when no one is buying because of the economy. But I digress as I usually do. The other problem with trying to change the mindset of corporations is that upper management is not going to listen. Worse, I have even heard it said before the last time we were in a down economy, you don't like it, go get another job. They know you are stuck and take advantage of it. The Big Three automakers didn't get it when they were pointing their finger at labor costs as the major problem as they arrived in their private jets. Hey, I am open to any suggestions from people that might help others to change the mindset of corporate America.

When it comes down to it, we are the spark. If we don't start fanning the flames of change, nothing will ever change. As Desmond Tutu said, "Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." I think the first step in doing this is to look at our own hearts. Take a few minutes each day and remind yourself as you start the day that we are truly all related. Say to yourself that each and every person you meet during the day is another aspect of yourself. If you encounter someone that you find offense with, instead of focusing out towards them, ask yourself, am I seeing within them something that I don't like about myself? have I ever acted like this person to another? Am I judging this person on preconceived notions, learned prejudices, or even media influences? Now look at that person again. Is there something in that person that you see as good? Are we so locked on the negative that we cannot see past it to find that good?

For the past two years I have been writing on Unity and Reconnecting. I have felt that I was led to write the things I have. That it was now time for the people to come together. One heart, one spirit. I have been disillusioned over the two years, feeling that though I was guided to write what I have, no one was reading. Well, some of you were. I have had some tell me that my writings are too long and take too long to read. I am only being the "hollow bone" as Grandfather Fools Crow says. I just start and let it flow. I have been told that a white person doesn't belong walking the red path. They told me to go be a Buddhist. All I can respond to that is thanks, as I took the time to read some Buddhist writings and found more great wisdom there, including the quote from the Buddha that I included above. My path has led me on many winding roads that has exposed me to many traditions, wisdoms, situations, and especially the people who have helped me to learn and grow. So yes, while I was trying to light the path, that light shown for me to see new things and look at life and my own connections in a new way.

I think I am going to take some time to address my own path. I truly want to get back to the woods. I also have another three sand paintings that I was supposed to have made last year, but kept putting off. I have to finish the pipe bag that I have to bead the turtle on. I have to basically get back to my own training so that I can better serve the people. To think that much of this all started with the vision of the turtle that is in the picture here. The shell is divided into thirteen segments. Three of each of the four colors and the center of the shell a combination of all the colors representing the coming together. This is the turtle that I painted with colored sands on the desert floor during a ceremony in New Mexico. I painted the same turtle of colored sand on a granite ledge back here in Massachusetts. I truly believed that the ceremony that I performed was to set the spirit of that turtle free to travel across all of turtle island to unite the people. It is said that at Black Elk's passing, he wept because he did not see his vision come to fruition. I pray that I will have a different fate. I pray that the spirit of unity that the turtle represents will cross all of turtle island and that somehow, someway, the people will reconnect with each other. Instead of fighting over scarcer and scarcer resources we will come together to find solution that will help all people.  It all starts with ourselves. We have to start relating to each other from the heart. We have to treat each other and all of creation as if each person that we encounter, whether human, tree person, rock person, four legged, winged, or others, as if they were another of ourselves. We especially need to stop looking at nature as a thing to be plundered.
I am another you.
My heart to your heart, one heart, one spirit.

We seem to be constantly looking for way to differentiate ourselves, to separate ourselves from others. Is it ego that drives this need to be different, better, special? Over the past few writings I have talked about the many ways that we have come to push ourselves apart from each other, to disconnect from each other, and from all of life. Whether we  use imaginary boundaries and call them countries, differences in the way we perceive our spiritual beliefs and call it religion, or differences in the shades of our skin and call it race, we try to find the smallest difference and blow it up and point to it to say, "See, I am better than you!" As if this weren't bad enough, we also use sex, gender, and sexual orientation as one more weapon in our arsenal of separation.
Before I get too deep into this, let me first differentiate between these three. While many applications may read sex or gender when referring to the request for information as to whether you are a man or a woman, the truth is, that should say sex. Sex is the physiological differentiation between men and women. Of course, we are so into our black and white world, that we see this as an either/or proposition. Yet, in truth, all three are linear and we fall some place on the line. There are some who are born with both male and female genitalia. Decisions are made either by the doctor or the parents and the sex is decided by others. In one such case, the person grew up with a condition known in the DSM-IV as Gender Dysphoria. This is where they grow up feeling that they are in conflict with their bodies. They perceive themselves to be a gender opposite than what their physical attributes would say. In other words, they may feel they are a woman in a man's body. Or they may feel they are a man in a woman's body. In the aforementioned case, the person grew up with gender dysphoria and then found out later that they had been born with both genitalia and the doctor made a choice. They sought out the doctor to kill them. In this case, the doctor guessed wrong. This isn't always the case though. Please do not confuse transgendered people with transexuals. There is a distinct difference between the two.
Gender is the way we perceive ourselves regardless of our genitalia. This is also linear and not quite black and white. We sometimes see this as masculine and feminine traits. We don't fall either distinctly as one or the other but rather fall somewhere along the line. For the most part our minds are in alignment with our bodies, but if people understood what people who suffer gender dysphoria had to go through, they wouldn't be giving the sneers and jeers behind their backs.
The same can be said for sexual preference. Of course California's passing of Proposition 8 shows how we use sexual preference to separate us. Why is it so important for people to push their own idea of right and wrong on others? Science has shown us that even in the animal kingdom there are gay animals. There is some evidence that it may be genetically passed down. I have one question for those who are so against gays have equal rights as everyone else, and use God as their justification, what if he intentionally created gays in order to control population? Why, if God is so against it, there is evidence of gay animals? I think it was in Legally Blond 2 that the Senator admits his dog is gay. Yet, if you mention science, then those against claim that it is Gay agenda and not real science. The thing is what if all those who claim that it is against God are wrong. What if it is God's intention? Are you willing to continue to say that gays are lesser than you and an abomination? Of course, there are those that will say that maybe those who speak loudest against and are most fearful of the "gay agenda" really are afraid of their own desires. After all, just as sex and gender aren't exactly black and white, neither is sexual orientation. We actually fall somewhere along a line. Sometimes having feelings for both sexes, or bisexual. The "B" in LGBT. (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered). 
Of course, there is still issues between men and woman and the "gender barrier" known as the glass ceiling. This spawned the feminist movement that sought to bring equality. It took many years, but a woman can be a CEO of a company now. Back in the 60's, the Civil Rights movement sought to level the playing field with regards to race. Today we have a black man on the verge of being President. Why can't we skip the whole movement and just shoot straight for equality and just accept everyone as an equal?
Maybe if we focused more on our own paths and not spending so much time telling everyone else they are on the wrong path, we all can get up the mountain without stepping on everyone else to get there.
My heart to your heart, one heart, one spirit.